Introduction to the History of IBEW Local 1245

IBEW 1245’s origins go back to 1900, when San Francisco linemen first organized IBEW Local 151 to fight for better wages and safer working conditions. They faced fierce resistance from Pacific Gas & Electric and other utilities, and in 1921 their union was virtually wiped out. But their creative and sometimes heroic struggles helped inspire a new generation of utility workers, who organized IBEW Local 1245 in 1941 to carry on the fight.

During the next decade, Local 1245 organized PG&E, Sierra Pacific Power (now NV Energy), the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, among other employers.

Under the leadership of Ron Weakley in the 1950s and 1960s, IBEW Local 1245 organized dozens of additional employers and contractors performing utility work, and improved the lives of countless thousands of workers. Today, IBEW 1245 continues to set the standard for wages, benefits and working conditions in the utility industry, and is a recognized leader in safety and organizing.

But it wasn’t easy getting to this point, as you are about to see. The long journey begins in San Francisco, in 1900, when line work was so dangerous no insurance company would issue a life insurance policy to a lineman.